SAP offers SaaS BI, targets large and small biz

To meet a growing demand from companies for SaaS BI, SAP has unveiled its BusinessObjects BI OnDemand solution tools for companies in India that require business intelligence (BI) through software-as-a-service (SaaS). The solution which had been rolled out 3-4 years ago has now been developed on a Web 2.0 platform that makes it interactive.

Peter Gartenberg, MD, SAP India said, "With SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand solution, organizations can empower their users instantly and easily. The best way to experience the toolset is to try it at www.biondemand.com. Users can easily upload data to create dashboards, reports or interactive visualizations"

Customers using the on-demand solution can create ad-hoc reports, conduct what-if analyses and securely share this information inside or outside the company. Business users can provide customers, partners and employees across all lines of business with immediate, anytime access to the most current data. It also provides the ability to access all on-demand and on-premise
data - including SAP data and also from the Salesforce customer
relationship management (CRM) application.

On-demand offerings from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio currently have more than 260,000 subscribers who are empowered with the tools and information required to drive their businesses forward.

"In India we are targeting the large enterprises like Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra where in BI adoption is already happening and also the SME where it needs to catch up," said Maneesh Sharma, head - business user & platform, SAP India.

Sharma said we see industry verticals like telecom, PSU, government, BFSI, manufacturing to adopt BI on a high level since we have also incorporated emission norms for energy and manufacturing companies.

"Even for those who can’t interpret the data correctly, we have provided web tutorials to help customers," said Sharma.

"India has large IT savvy population and so the level of adoption and interpreting data is different from the western world," said Gartenberg."

SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand also has a flexible pricing model, offering three editions of the product to address the different needs of each customer: Free Personal, Essential and Advanced editions. The solution will also include capabilities that make it easier than ever for business users to tap into their data online, get better insight into their organization and securely share illustrative reports and dashboards with colleagues inside and outside the firewall.

While many believe CIO's role is evolving and that he's occupying a key place in the boardroom, a recent study brings to light that more than half of the CIO, CTO or IT admin staff (55%) are not thanked by colleagues for carrying out essential IT tasks on their behalf.